“Hey, you should get something out of all this.” Angie rubbed Bliss’s back. “Did you call your mother to tell her you’re coming home?”
Remembering how her mother reacted the last time she’d heard her precious daughter had barely escaped death, Bliss sighed. “No.”
“I have my cell phone if you want to use it.”
“Thanks, but no. I figured I’d be better off telling her in person this time. As long as she can see me standing, walking, and talking, she might react a little better than last time. And that’s just a maybe.”
“I’m sure she’ll be relieved to know you’re all right.”
Bliss snorted. “Yeah, after she rails at the ceiling, asking God what I’ve done to deserve this. Then, assuming I know the answer to that, she’ll insist I go to confession and follow whatever edict the priest gives me to save my tarnished soul.”
“Or maybe she’ll just pray for you.”
Bliss chuckled. “You don’t know my mother.”
***
Drake sat in the chair opposite Chief Tate’s desk. What did I do now?
When the chief finally walked into his office, he didn’t even sit down. “You’re going to the EAP, Drake.”
“The Employee Assistance Program? Why?”
“Because I think you should.”
“I don’t need…”
Chief Tate held up one hand to silence him. “I didn’t say you had a choice.”
“But I’m fine.” Drake turned his chair to face him. “I don’t understand. I had on my protective gear, I’m not coughing…”
“I’m not sending you for smoke inhalation… although that might be a good thing to look at and see if it’s clouding your brain.”
“Huh?”
“I could order you to get a psych eval. I could say you have a death wish and are not only endangering your own life, but the lives of other firefighters.”
Drake shot to his feet. “What?”
The chief folded his arms and set his jaw, as if accepting Drake’s challenge. “You’re going. It’ll look better if you ask for the appointment yourself and talk to someone confidentially. I need to know if you have a death wish. If not, I’ll be glad to keep you on.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“From what I’ve seen and heard over the past few weeks, you’ve been taking too many chances and tempting fate. I thought you were in the bar when it collapsed, and that’s when I made my decision.”
“You thought you’d send my dead body for a psych eval?”
“No, dimwit. I promised myself if you got out alive, I’d send you for some kind of help before you wound up dead… and God knows how many more I might lose, trying to rescue you. I hate attending firefighters’ funerals.”
“That makes two of us.”
Drake didn’t like what he was hearing, but he had to admit the chief had cause. Anyone paying attention would eventually realize he was always the first one in and the last one out. It might look bad to those who didn’t know he was fireproof… in other words, everyone.
“Chief,” Drake tried to relax. “I understand how it might look, but I assure you I’m very happy with my life. I don’t have a death wish.”
“Fine. Tell it to the shrink, or whoever the EAP hooks you up with. If he thinks you need help, you’ll do what he tells you. Understood?”
Drake rubbed his eyes and muttered, “I don’t believe this.”
“Oh, you can believe it, all right.”
“You’re not committing me or anything… There’s still a chance the EAP will send me home with a warning to be more careful, isn’t there?”
The chief shrugged. “I have no idea what he’ll decide, but whatever that is, you’ll do it.”
Drake felt like a two-year-old who’d been scolded for running with scissors. “So when do I need to go?”
“How’s now for you?”
“I guess now works.”
“Great. Dismissed.”
Chapter 18
“Mom, I need you to promise me, when the producer and camera crew get here you’ll be on your best behavior.”
Malinda Russo bristled. “What on earth are you talking about? Why would you think I’d be anything less than gracious?”
“I don’t think you’d be rude or anything… at least not on purpose.”
Bliss’s mother jammed her hands on her hips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“This is very important to me,” Bliss peeked through the lace curtain and saw the truck pull up with the camera crew. “And to them.”